Bentley Commerce fund development in DR in exchange for suites

25 February 2004

Bentley Commerce Corporation’s new Corporate Trade Group will provide US$5 million in cash equivalent trade credit funding to a Caribbean resort in exchange for an equal amount of resort condos, suites and rooms that it plans to re-market for cash to holiday and resort travellers. Bentley Commerce will also market a portion of the room inventory through its Bentley Crump Barter Network of 180 independent trade exchanges with about 50,000 companies that trade through them, to expand trade opportunities available to its members.

Bentley Commerce’s first trade credit funding of a resort, was engineered together with Intertrade Capital Group, its strategic alliance partner. It will assist a U.S. based company that specialises in resort and hotel development to complete one of its Caribbean resorts located on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic near Cabarete.

“When the project is completed,” said Bruce Kamm, Bentley Commerce’s CEO and the Managing Director of its Corporate Trade Group, “Bentley Commerce will sell most of its acquired inventory of condos and room nights for cash, which we believe will result in substantial revenue. We will also market some of the room nights for trade dollars. Our hospitality trade credit funding initiative will also provide us with an inside track on resort hotel rooms for barter, one of the most demanded areas of personal and cooperate barter, as well as present us with excellent opportunities to obtain equity positions in new resorts.

“Bentley’s Hospitality trade credit funding initiative is an extraordinary opportunity for resorts and hotels requiring financing for property development, refurbishment and renovations to offset and reduce their cash requirements,” Mr. Kamm concluded. “It allows the hospitality companies to pay a significant portion of their capital improvements, interest free with their own excess room capacity or future sales.”